How to avoid a war with China

In the summer of 1914, few wanted war or thought a major war was possible. My...

What Biden 2024 has that Biden 2020 didn’t

There is no end of commentary gently — and not so gently — urging President Joe...

It’s time to tear up Big Tech’s get-out-of-jail-free card

I still remember the shock I felt when I was able to buy a Facebook ad...

The great spy balloon freakout

These are not safe times to be a weather balloon. Until a couple weeks ago, the...

In 46 words, Biden sends a clear message to Israel

I woke up Saturday morning, read the news from Israel that at least 50,000 Israelis had...

The world’s biggest democracy is jettisoning freedom and tolerance

When I moved to New Delhi in 2009 to work as a foreign correspondent, there was...

A century on, the search for the real Franz Kafka continues

The first time Franz Kafka’s voice entered my head, I was 15. Two new friends I’d...

Inclusive or alienating? The language wars go on

Before the millions of views, the subsequent ridicule and finally the earnest apology, The Associated Press...

It’s not going well for Britain’s new prime minister

Rishi Sunak, Britain’s prime minister, has a plan for the new year. In a speech in...

The man who may challenge Putin for power

President Vladimir Putin of Russia, it seems, has finally noticed that the war in Ukraine created...

Keep your politics out of my arugula

When I was 14, I was asked to fetch some baklava from the basement of the...

The problem(s) with China’s population drop

China’s population declined last year, for the first time since the mass deaths associated with Mao...

The trouble with paradise

One day in my 20s, several decades ago, I got on a plane in New York...

Brazil’s Jan. 6 imitation and the futility of populism

For two years we have debated whether the essential feature of the Jan. 6 riot, the...

Wait, is my dog stoned?

On Thanksgiving morning, our dog, Sherlock, ate his usual breakfast and went for his usual walk,...

Why petulant oligarchs rule our world

Some years ago — I think it was 2015 — I got a quick lesson in...

Celebrity crypto-hawkers should get a close look

Remember when the actor Matt Damon pontificated about how “fortune favours the brave” people who invest...

Evil clowns and cowardly lions

We live in a time when the people who are in charge are scared of the...

Why do Stanford, Harvard and NASA still honour a Nazi past?

Earlier this year, Harvard unveiled a report of the university’s history of profiting from slavery. “I...

Why it matters that China’s protests started in Xinjiang

Late last month, in a stunning display of frustration, people in multiple cities across China took...